Construction projects can get complex. Not only do the contracts governing those projects seem to get more complex, but the law governing those contracts and the construction world seem to change on a regular (though not always logical) basis. Its enough to make a construction professional want to simply sign a contract and plug ahead with the work hoping that all will be well in the end.
I get it. It is a lot to worry about. Just running a construction business with the estimating, personnel, cash flow, and bonding among other things creates enough work without having to keep up with the legalese that we construction lawyers bombard your contracts with and that the general assembly fills the Virginia code with. Unfortunately, this legalese can be a nightmare on the back end if not dealt with early and often. We all understand that a construction project goes much more smoothly and less expensively if the work is done right the first time. It is always more expensive to deal with a problem than avoid it in the first place.
How do you keep up with this stuff? Start a relationship with a construction attorney of course. Having one of us folks that keeps up with the changes in the legal winds and spends our time anticipating legal issues (from notice to mechanic’s liens to pay if paid issues) can actually save you money. How? By helping anticipate and hopefully deal with problems early before a small problem becomes a big one. Frankly, the best use of a construction lawyer for a construction company is as a litigation avoidance consultant. Litigation and claims are expensive and are not money makers. Take advantage of and attorney-client relationship to have a 10 minute conversation that could possibly avoid years of litiagation. I say all of this and a significant portion of my practice is construction litigation.
My recommendation? Make legal services “overhead” either through some flat fee arrangement with the attorney (as I do with some of my favorite clients) or as part of your budget. Of course, these arrangements may not include litigation or other work that involves too many factors outside of your or your lawyer’s control, but hopefully such an arrangement will help avoid such situations in the first place. Making such counsel part of your “overhead” can be a relatively small expense now to avoid a huge headache later.
As always, I welcome your comments below. Please subscribe to keep up with this and other Construction Law Musings.
